Telephone toll apparatus.



No. 777,525. PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904.

- G. A. LONG. TELEPHONE TOLL APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 5. 1903.

no MODEL;

' 4 signal, and then withdrawing by means of the UNITED STATns Patented December 13, 1904,

PATENT UFFICE.

GEORGE A. LONG, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE GRAY TELEPHONE PAY STATION COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

TELEPHONE TOLLAPPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,525, dated December 13, 1904.

Application filed January 5, 1903.

To all whom, it natty concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. LONG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Toll Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of telephone toll apparatus in which a coin or token is deposited for the use of the instrument and which coin or token indicates the fact that it has been deposited.

The object of my invention is to provide a device of this class in which the fraudulent use of the instrument by the withdrawal of the coin after its deposit has been indicated shall be prevented. A form of device by the use of which this object may be attained is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which T Figure 1 is a front view of the channel board with the front plate removed. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the channel-board. Fig. 3 is a detail diagram view, on enlarged scale, of a portion of the back plate and the channel-board, illustrating my invention in operation.

A common form of signaling apparatus used in connection with telephones or the like includes a channel-board or plate in which channels are formed and along which the coins travel and are guided to signal devices that are sounded by the impact of the coin or otherwise. WVith such apparatus in some of the prior forms it is possible that fraudulent use may be made of the instrument, as by attaching a cord, thread, or the like to the coin, dropping it through the channel to sound the cord. In a common form of telephone signaling apparatus the channel-board is inclined at quite an angle, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings herein, and this'is especially the fact when several channels for the reception of coins of different denominations are located in the channel-board. The board is inclined for the purpose of preventing the Serial No. 137,850. (No model.)

coin from traveling too fast along its channel or guideway. 5

My invention is peculiarly applicable for use in connection with an instrument having a channel board of this class, such being shown in the accompanying drawings. This channel-board is located in a box or receptacle appurtenant to the set of telephone instruments, as is common in signaling devices used in connection with such instruments. The location of the channel board and its method of use are readily understood to those acquainted with the art, and for this reason the box or receptacle, telephone instruments, and like parts have beenomitted for the purpose of clearness in the description and illustration of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the channelboard includes a back plate 1 and a front or cover plate 2, that are located and supported in. the box or receptacle in an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 20f the drawings, the 7 upper part of this channel-board being provided with a coin-plate 3. The channel-board is preferably located at such angle that the coin-plate 3 will be located in a horizontal or practically horizontal position. This coin- 7= plate is provided along its length with coinslots (not shown herein) for the reception of coins or tokens (t of or representing differ ent denominations. Each of the coin-slots is appurtenant to a coin-channel located in the back board, the slot directing the coin into the channel. The coin travels along the channel, striking and sounding a signal or signals 5 which may be located in its path and is delivered from the bottom of the channel 5 into a proper coin receptacle or receiver. In many forms of telephone toll apparatus a trap is located in the walls of the channel, through which coins not intended for that channel will fall, and it will be readily under- 9 stood that my invention herein described will be equally applicable in connection with the traps as in connection with the channels.

In the lower edge of the channel-boarda V- shaped slot 6 is formed appurtenant to each channel, the mouth or wider portion of the slot extending across the channel for the greater portion of its width. This slot narrows from the mouth toward the rear part thereof and terminates in a throat 7 which opens into an enlarged recess 8. The purpose and intent of the enlarged throat or recess 8 is to form a lock to prevent the cord of a captive coin from running out of the V-shaped slot, so that it might engage the lower lip of the coin-channel and be drawn upward and back through said channel. It is very necessary to provide some sort of a loop or opening at the inner end of the slot to make the trapsecure. After the string has once been brought into the enlarged opening at the throat of the slot it is impossible by slacking off on the cord to run it out of the slot. The recess is preferably made of circular form with a comparatively small opening at the point Where it merges into the V-shaped slot. It will be readily seen from this construction that the cord or the like to which the coin may have been attached for the purpose of fraudulent use of the device will be thrown into this V- shaped opening or trap as the coin passes out from the channel and over the edge of the board and that any attempt to Withdraw the coin Will at once cause the cord to pass through the throat of the trap into the recess. This will eifectually prevent the withdrawal of the coin, and thus the fraudulent use of the device by this means.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings the front plate being removed discloses the coin-channel on the extreme right for the reception of a coin of a larger denomination, as a dollar, with a trap through the wall of the channel in the edge of the opening for the reception of coins of a lesser denomination. In case a smaller C0111 than that intended for a channel should be attempted to be used as it passes through the opening the trap will engage the cord, as hereinbefore described, and it will be impossible to remove the coin therefrom. It Will be understood that this trap may be located in any desired position along the channel, and it is obvious that other forms of construction may be employed without departing from the spirit and intent of the invention, which consists in so locating and arranging a trap that a coin in passing froma channel will cause a cord or the like attached to the coin to be drawn into this trap in such position that the coin will strike the opposite side of the plate and prevent its withdrawal.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv The combination with a channel-board having one or more channels adapted to receive a coin and guide it in its passage across said board, and signal devices projecting into said channels and adapted to be operated by the coin in its passage, of a trap to prevent the retraction of the coin after it has passed beyond said signal devices, said trap comprising an opening through said board in the channel and a guideway from said opening to the edge over which the coin drops from said channelboard, said guideway where it leaves said opening being of substantially less width than said opening and flaring outwardly toward said edge, substantially as described and for the purposes set forth.

GEORGE A. LONG. 

